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mammal. 2Sheets-Sheet 1. U. W. BROOKUNIER & D. G. RIPLEY.

GLASS ANNEALING LEER.

No. 270,929. Patented J.a.n..ZB, 1888.

H E am I VE 1mm hiifiifi 2Sheets+8heet 2. O. W. BROOKUNIER & D. G.RIPLEY.

(No Model.)

GLASS ANNEALING LEER.

S E E E h 6 1 tion of our improved leers.

. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLESW. BROCKUNIER, on BRIDGEPORT, OHIO, AND DANIEL 0. Emmy,

- OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

GLASS-ANNEALING LEER.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 270,929, dated January23, 1883.

Application filed November 16,1882. (No model.)

To all whom "it may concern.-

Be it known that we, OHARLEs W. BROCKU- NIER, of Bridgeport, county ofBelmont, State of Ohio, and DANIEL O. RIPLEY, of-Pittsburg, county ofAllegheny, State of Pennsylvania, and citizens of the United States,have invented or discovered a new and useful Improvement inGlass-Annealing Leer; and we do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, concise, and exact description thereof, reference being badto the accompanying drawings, makinga part of this specification, inwhich-like letters indicating like parts- Figure 1, Sheet 1, shows afront end eleva- Fig. 2 is a similar view ofthe rear end and Fig. 3,Sheet 2, shows a longitudinal vertical section taken in the plane of theline 00 00, Fig. 2.

Our invention relates to certain improvements in leers or furnaces forannealing glassware; and it consists in the construction of leers invertical pairs, one leer being above the other, with means for approachto the separateleers at the front for insertion of ware, and also at therear fondrawing the trays and removing the ware, as hereinafter morefully described and claimed.

In the drawings, A A and B B represent two pairs or sets ofannealing-chambers, the

chambers in each setbeing separate, but built one directly overtheother. They may be of the usual or an v desired form-say about fivefeet wide and fifty feet long, more or less.

. Furnaces D, of the usual construction, are built alongside of eachannealing-chamber at. the front, as represented in Fig. 1. Each furnaceopens into its ad acent annealing-chamber under theskew of its arch, asat cl, Fig. 3,

and the products ofcombustion pass backward to or somewhat beyond thecenter, and escape through suitable flues, h, into the stack H.

Along the floor of each chamber are trays or pans 0, which are connectedtogether in line by books 0, and may be mounted on slides or rollers inthe usual or' any convenient way.

- These trays are designed to hold the glassware.

'They are moved along the bed or floor from the front, Fig. 1, where theware is inserted, to the rear, Fig. 2, where it is removed. Assuccessive trays are emptied at the rear they are disengaged byunhookin'g at c, and are carried around to the front, connected, andagain passed into the annealing-chamber through the openings d, whichare made in the leer-front D in line with the bed or floor on which thetrays move, and of proper size to admit the trays without unnecessaryopen space; also, in the leer-fronts D, above the openings cl, are madedoors E, by preference in two or more hinged parts, through which theware to be treated is passed into the chambers. By opening the whole ora part of such doors, openings may be made of proper size to admit largeor small pieces, as maybe desired. This work of putting the glass piecesinto the annealing-chambers is usually-performed by boys, whouselonghandled forks. The doors E are placed at the side of thechambers, or rather the door above is at one side of its chamber and theone below is at the opposite side of its chamber; and in the two sets'ofleers the two upper doors for chambers. A B meat the adjacent sides andthe two lower for chambers A B are at opposite sides. In order to makeany and all these doors easily accessible, a bridge or elevated floor,F, is made in front, below the two upper doors and between the two lowerones, such bridge having an ascending incline,f, leading to the samefrom the main house-floor F. \Vhen charging the upper chambers the boysstand on this bridge,and are then in convenient position to reach eitherupper door. In charging the lower chambers'the boys stand on the mainfloor F, at either side of the bridge.

In order to reach all parts of the tray easily, so as to distribute theware uniformly over the same, laterally-extended openings 0 are made ator near the level of the trays, leading from the door-openings E towardthe opposite side of the chamber. The article can thus be passed intothe chamber through its door, whether above or below, and then be setupon any desired part of the tray by passing the handle of the forksidewise into the opening 0.

The iron frames 0, surrounding the doors E and openings 0, may be madeof any suitable form and construction adapted to support the doors andthe brick-work above, which latter, as well as the arches or caps D maybe carried to any desired height above the leers proper, to arrestpassage of heat from the top of the leers forward into thehouse.

One special feature of advantage resulting from these features ofconstruction in the leerfront is economy of space required for charging,four leers being charged without occupying any more house space than hasheretofore been required for the manipulation of two leers. The samefeatures of advantage are also secured at the rear of the furnace bybuilding the leers in vertical pairs, or one above the other. At thisend (see Figs. 2 and 3) is also shown new andimproved mechanism fordrawing the trays through and out of the annealing chambers. Thismechanism is constructed as follows Rods N, in any desired number, aresecured in vertical position on either side of the chambers, the footbeing secured in sockets or rests a on the floor, and the upper end bybrackets N, which are fastened to the furnace-walls in any convenientway. A horizontal shaft, It, is mounted on these rods by connections It,one part, 1*, of which forms journal-bearin gs for the shaft, whilecollars 'r thereon encircle and slide upon the rods, thus permittingvertical movement of the shaft. The shaft is balanced, and thus held inthe desired vertical position, by counter-weights T, which are connectedthereto by wire or other cords, T, whfch latter pass over sheaves Toverhead. Three such weights are shown; but this number may be varied asdesired. Thus balanced, the shaft may be moved upward against thecollars n, or other suitable stops, in proper position for drawing thetrays in the upper chambers, '(see Fig. 3;) or it may he moved down uponthe rests a (see Fig.2) in position for the lower chambers. The traysare drawn by means of sprocket-wheels s, keyed on the shaft, and chains8, one end of the latter being hooked to-the adjacent pan, as at c, andthe other end placed upon or in engagement with the sprocket-wheel s, asillustrated in Fig. 3. Continuous rotary motion is given the shaft bychain and pulley S S, which make connection with any suitable.drivingpower; also, any well-known form of shifting mechanism may beemployed for putting the shaft It in and out of driving connection orgear, which may be operated by a lever within convenient reach of theworkman at the rear of the leers. As the trays are drawn out of thechambers they are supported on projecting brackets 2 which are securedto the leer-walls in any convenient way. In order to bring thesebrackets. at convenient heights, so that the ware may be removedconveniently both from the upper and lower trays,the floors of the upperchambers, A B, are inclined downward toward the rear, and the floors ofthe lower chambers, A B, are inclined upward in the same direction,thereby bringing the floors nearer together at the rear than at thefront, where greater depth of chambersis required for flue-openings dand proper combustion of gases and development of heat in the front halfof the chambers.

Several important advantages are secured by theimprovements hereindescribed-for example, cheapness in construction, one foundation servingfor two leers, and the front and dividing wall between the two beingcommon to both. Heat is saved, as a considerable part of that which hasheretofore escaped from the walls is now utilized in heating thecompanion leer, and with the four leers constructed as herein describedthe house will be heated but little, if any,more than with two of theold I construction. Space required by the workmen in operating the leerswill be economized as hereinbefore described, and also the spaceoccupied by theleers, as four leers constructed as described will occupyno more floor-space than two as heretofore built. This alone is a veryimportant advantage, especially in city houses, and the features ofconstruction by which these advantages are secured are valuableimprovements in this class of furnaces.

If desired, for local or other reasons, some of these improvements maybeemployed without employing all; also, various modifications may beintroduced without departing from our invention. For example, adifferent form of approach may be made to the upper leers at the front,or the floors of the chambers may be made parallel instead of convergingbackward, other features of our invention being used; also, two shafts,B, may be used, instead of one movable one, the two being fixed inposition, and one or more such shafts, with sprocket-wheels, chains, anddriving mechanism, maybe combined with a singleleer chamber and itstrays for drawing the latter with good results; but for cheapness inconstruction and convenience in manipulation we prefer the constructionshown and described.

We claim herein as our invention- 1. The combination of two leers, builtof the same length one upon the other, with separate openings in theircommon front for charging ware into the two leer-chambers, and also inthe rear end for removing the ware therefrom, substantially as setforth.

2. The combination of two leers, built one above the other, such leershaving inclined floors converging toward the rear, substantially as setforth.

3. Two leers, built one upon the other, ha v ingdoors for charging theleer-chambers in the front, on opposite sides, in combination with abridge or raised floor below the upper door and at one side of the lowerdoor, substantially as set forth.

4:. In combination with the annealing-chamher and trays of aleer, a doorin the leer-front opening into the chamber above the trays, such doorhaving a laterally extended opening leading therefrom in or near theplane of the trays, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

5. The combination of four leers, built in vertical pairs side by-side,the upper leers havin g charging-doors on the adjacent sides, and thetwo lower leers having charging-doors on the remote sides,of theleer-chambers, with an elevated bridge below the upper and between thelower doors, substantially as set forth.

6. In combination with a leer-chamber, arotary shaft, R, mounted at therear of the 5 chamber, sprocket-wheel 8, chain 8, trays G,

and power mechanism for giving the shaft rotary motion, substantially asset forth.

7. Two leer-chambers, built one above the other, in combination withtrays 0, vertical 1o rods N, transverse shaft R, movably mounted on suchrods, counter-weights T, sprocket- 7 wheels 8, and.chains s,substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

CHARLES W. BROGKUNIER. DANIEL O. RIPLEY.

Witnesses:

R. H. WHI'r'rLEsEY, O. L. PARKER.

